to quote emmy host neil patrick harris' how i met your mother character, this year's emmys were legen - wait for it - dary. neil opened the show with a great musical number all about the tv industry and appeared later on as his character, dr. horrible, from the emmy-winning online show dr. horrible's sing-a-long blog, cementing him as one of the go-to hosts for these events. hopefully this means we won't have to be subjected to the awkwardness that is steve carrell - who is far better at acting than carrying an award show - or john stewart, who can deliver the fake news, but not the jokes that keep the audience both in attendance and at home entertained. why the producers of the emmys keep bringing back ricky gervais is beyond me. yes, he helped create the office and had the critical darling of a show extras, but he's just so annoying to me. his comedy is definitely geared towards an english audience, not an american one. i'll get to the winners in a minute, but i just need to talk about sarah mclaughlin. this woman has made a career out of making people cry. she has two songs - "i will remember you" and "arms of an angel" - which get played along with every sad montage and dying dog commercial. the fact that the emmys actually brought sarah on to perform "i will remember you" over the "in memorial" was like yelling at the audience, "cry, bitch!" okay ... on to the winners.
i really liked how the show was divided by category this year. it made it easier to follow and keep track of who won what. plus, it allowed me to zone out during the reality awards. comedy came first and kristin chenowith started off the night's surprises by taking home the "best supporting actress" nod for her work as olive on pushing daisies. i love when defunct shows get credit for their amazing work; networks kill off shows with loyal audience and keep around shows with target demographics, even if they pull in the same numbers, which really annoys and confuses me. i understand it's about money, but i love pushing daisies. had samantha who?'s christina applegate taken home the award for "best actress," all of my abc redemption would have been taken care of. sadly, toni collette made an upset in that category for united states of tara. while i do love that show, i would never have expected toni to get the statue. i was for sure tina fey, who took home "best guest actress in a comedy series" for her sarah palin parodies on snl, would be repeating her win from last year. jon cryer continued the comedy award upsets by nabbing the "best supporting actor in a comedy series" for two and a half men. cryer, and everyone else, seemed completely surprised by the win. at least i'm assuming he wasn't expecting to win because he was dressed like a bumble bee. alec baldwin took home the only unsurprising win for "best actor" for 30 rock. justin timberlake finished out the comedy awards for his guest host gig on snl, which was announced last weekend on the creative arts emmys. surprisingly, jt didn't win for the music category, in which he was nominated for two separate events - "motherlover" from snl and his opening number from his espys hosting gig.
the reality category was next and i just kind of watched unenthusiastically. i feel like the emmys is so predictable and never budges from their choices, always picking jeff probst for host and the amazing race for show. whoop-de-doo.
grey gardens made a virtual sweep of the miniseries category, taking home the two biggest awards - best actress and best movie. the only disappointing part of this category was that jessica lange and drew barrymore had to be nominated against each other. the movie was much more about drew barrymore's "little edie" and i would have put jessica lange's "big edie" in the supporting category. if that had been the case, i know both of them would have taken home statues. sadly, lange beat out barrymore for her dead-on recreation of the beale matriarch. drew's performance in the movie is really good, but just enough off from the real deal to make jessica the better player.
the biggest category - drama - was the least surprising of all. while the show isn't all that popular, brian cranston took home the "best actor" statue for a second year in a row for breaking bad. glenn close helped to recreate last years acting awards by taking home the "best actress" once again for damages. this second year sweep continues the theme of cable shows eclipsing the world of broadcast tv. hopefully next year the academy will wise up and include some of the shows people actually have been watching - like true blood, which was completely shut out - in the future. cherry jones, a broadway vet, surprised the audience by taking home the award for "best supporting actress" for her role as 24's president. and, in another shocker, michael emerson was named "best supporting actor" for his creepy work on lost, a show that has definitely lost momentum and that is entering its final season later this year. the "guest actor" awards went to ellen burstyn for her role on law and order: svu and michael j. fox for his turn on rescue me. almost all the guest actress noms were from svu, which i found surprising. are there no other shows that allow for good performances? my guess is that it doesn't deal as much with the material as it does with the names the shows get. the guest actor/actress categories are always big stars.
in the final awards of the night, 30 rock and mad men took home the best show trophies. both of these shows deserve it and it's nice to see a balance of cable and broadcast. i'm glad 30 rock keeps winning emmys because i'm not sure it would stay on the air otherwise. it's really surprising that the show has never picked up momentum, as it has won emmys for every season its been on the air and is one of the few sitcoms on tv currently that is genuinely laugh-out-loud funny. with these two shows taking home the awards, the program ended on time, which is always a nice surprise.
check back tomorrow for videos from the broadcast and more news.
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